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The Irreplaceable Role of the School Counsellor

NOTE: This article appeared in the Fall/Winter 2024 edition of BC Counsellor Magazine.

School counsellors have an irreplaceable role in promoting the wellbeing of more than half a million children and youth in British Columbia (BC).[1] As both educational and mental health professionals, school counsellors occupy a unique space in the school system and society. Aristotle captured this uniqueness when he wrote (paraphrased), “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.”[2] School counsellors are not just an educator (i.e. teacher) or a counsellor; rather, they are “teacher-counsellors” or “educator-counsellors” whose competency in both fields intersects like two overlapping circles.


Levy and Lemberger-Truelove write:

To conceive of educator or counsellor identities as discrete from the other is inimical; instead, these identities always coalesce in ways that affect the values and behaviours of all school counsellors. In response to this wrongheaded duality, we propound that the word school in the term school counsellor is appropriately positioned first because it describes all school counsellors’ indelible situatedness in an educational setting. The situatedness in schools compels all behaviours to be in service of the educational mission of the school and in support of student needs as learners and social beings. Parallel to the educator identity, the term counsellor in school counsellor suggests a certain orientation that is concerned with the delivery of services focused on prevention and development that anticipate a medley of wellness and social justice outcomes.[3]

When counselling, school counsellors provide intervention and prevention services whose purpose is empowering students towards positive change.[4] These counselling services are augmented by school counsellors’ expertise in education - something not shared by other mental health professionals. Similarly, when teaching, school counsellors may bring their training in various therapeutic modalities and developmental theories (e.g. art therapy, attachment, mindfulness, trauma-informed approaches) into their instruction. Thus, school counsellors’ educational services are augmented by their expertise in mental health - something not shared by other educators. (Note: this paragraph only captures part of the work of school counsellors, not the whole.)


This edition of BC Counsellor Magazine explores three perspectives on promotion and prevention which illuminate the uniqueness, and necessity, of school counsellors’ role. Lisa Baylis invites readers to consider how promoting their own wellbeing through self-compassion may benefit their students and schools. Shirley Giroux and Amar Sull explore how storytelling can be used to promote awareness, social justice, and wellness. Christine Schwartz, Jessica Tang, Jen Barican, and Charlotte Waddell share their research on effective school-delivered prevention programs.

References

  1. BC Gov News. (Sept 5, 2023). Education by the numbers. https://news.gov.bc.ca/factsheets/education-by-the-numbers 

  2. WikiQuote. (June 20, 2024). Aristotle. https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Aristotle 

  3. Levy, I. P. & Lemberger-Truelove, M. E. (2021). Educator–Counselor: A Nondual Identity for School Counselors. Professional School Counselling, 24(1b). https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ian-Levy/publication/351438836_Educator-Counselor_A_Nondual_Identity_for_School_Counselors/links/631fc5480a70852150eb4e13/Educator-Counselor-A-Nondual-Identity-for-School-Counselors.pdf 

  4. BC Ministry of Education. (2016). Special Education Services: A Manual of Policies, Procedures and Guidelines. https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/education/administration/kindergarten-to-grade-12/inclusive/special_ed_policy_manual.pdf 

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